There are many different species of ruminant animals found around the world. Ruminants include cattle, sheep, goats, buffalo, deer, and elk. These animals have a digestive system uniquely different from other animals (including humans, chickens, and pigs). Instead of having only one compartment to the stomach, ruminants have four compartments. The rumen is the largest section of the stomach and is the main digestive area. The rumen is filled with billions of microorganisms that are able to break down grass and other coarse vegetation that animals having one stomach cannot digest.
Laidlomycin is a known antibiotic that has been shown to inhibit the growth of Gram positive bacteria. Laidlomycin has also been shown to increase the efficiency of feed utilization and rate of weight gain in domestic animals, especially meat-producing and milk-producing animals, such as cattle. Carbohydrates form a large part of these animals' diets, and the efficiency of carbohydrate utilization is desirably increased by treatment which encourages intraruminal production of propionate rather than acetate from carbohydrates. Additionally, laidlomycin suppresses rumen lactic acid production, thereby assisting in the prevention or treatment of bloat in ruminant animals.
Animal feedstuff compositions containing a therapeutic and/or prophylactic level of laidlomycin have been prepared by admixing the drug or a salt thereof with the feedstuff directly or by admixing an additive containing the drug with the desired feedstuff. Feed additives are normally prepared by admixing the drug or salt thereof, or a solution of the drug or a salt thereof with an edible substrate such as corn cob grits, soybean feed, corn meal or the like. Typically, laidlomycin is prepared by fermentation of organisms such as Streptoverticillium eurocidicum. 
There remains a need for alternative feed additive compositions comprising laidlomycin.